The most essential gift for a good writer
is a built-in shockproof shit detector.
—ERNEST HEMINGWAY
HOW DO WE FIND OUT HOW PLAIN OUR WRITING IS? There are two answers to this question and both are important.
First, we should look to see if the plain-language strategies we’ve been outlining here have been used. To a certain extent, these can be measured with various reading-level tests.
Second, and more important, we should try to test our documents. I’ll talk about this later in this chapter.
Different readers, different contexts
It probably seems obvious to think about how you write, but are you taking
into account not only different readers, but different reading situations?
First, we must ask “Plain to whom?” What an engineer might find easy, a physician might not. What a seismic crew might understand, a flight crew might not. And so on. Knowing who our readers are and writing specifically for them wherever possible is important. In fact, this is the first and most important step in creating plain-language materials.
We’ve mentioned several different groups which might have different reading skills. Now let’s look at some other aspects which can affect how much readers understand. If you know they will be reading your materials on a crowded bus, you will need to write at a simpler level than for readers sitting quietly at home.
Readers also lose some literacy skill when they are sick, hungry, scared or otherwise stressed. If your materials will be for people you know are in these less than ideal circumstances, write at an easier level. We have probably all felt at times a shiver of anxiety that temporarily “freezes” our brains.
Interest level is another complication. People who are interested in a topic may know more of the words associated with that topic. They may also be more prepared to use a dictionary and persevere than they would be if they were bored. If you have to write something that is not very interesting, what can you do to make it easier for readers to stick with it?